Top 5 Insurance Billing Mistakes Costing You Money
Acupuncturists who accept insurance can be very successful at growing their practice. Here at Soundry, we provide acupuncture billing services and process thousands of claims on behalf of practitioners, helping them increase their insurance success rates and revenue. Below are some of the most common mistakes we’ve found preventing acupuncture practices from collecting the maximum amounts allowed for insurance.
- Verifying Eligibility Only Through Insurance Portals: Relying solely on insurance portals for eligibility verification might lead to inaccuracies. Thus, it's important to confirm coverage by calling the insurance payer directly and asking specific questions about active codes and deductibles.
- Billing Outside Your Scope: Ensure that you only bill for codes that are within your insurance contract or license. For example, even if you can perform Physical Therapy treatments, your insurance contract might not allow you to bill for PT codes. Furthermore, even if you're initially paid, an audit could result in funds being reclaimed.
- Incorrect Office & Treatment Coding Combinations: Many insurance payers are now bundling office visits with other treatment codes, leading to potential denials. Familiarize yourself with each payer's exclusions and review your contract to identify which combinations are allowed for each insurance payer.
- Untimely Denial Follow ups: Failing to follow up promptly on denied claims can lead to a buildup of Accounts Receivables. Instead of waiting to work on denials on a weekly or bi-weekly cadence, take a look at your denials every time you regularly bill claims or update payments. Also, regularly call insurance payers to understand the reasons for denials and take action quickly.
- Incorrect Veterans Administration (VA) Billing: VA billing has improved significantly and can be an important source of new patients. But only providers authorized to bill VA should do so, even if the referral is determined to be for the whole office. Additionally, even if services are authorized, it does not mean that each provider in the office can bill for those services. The VA regularly performs audits and reimbursement clawbacks can occur if not billed to the correct providers.
Managing insurance billing, especially in acupuncture, requires attention to detail and a proactive approach to prevent billing errors and potential financial losses. Soundry’s acupuncture billing service and EHR software can help you navigate these challenges. Read more about how we’ve helped Soundry customers save time and money.
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